Uganda's rights body orders Muhoozi to release Bobi Wine's bodyguard

Eddie Mutwe who has been missing since Sunday when he was reportedly picked up by security forces. [Courtesy]

Uganda Human Rights Commission has directed the military to release Bobi Wine’s bodyguard, Eddie Mutwe.

In a statement, the Commission’s chair Mariam Wangadya warned that Mutwe’s continued detention amounts to contempt as he is being held unlawfully.

“Whereas Edward Mutwe has been in your custody since April 26, and whereas the Commission is satisfied that he is being unlawfully detained or restricted, this is to direct you to cause immediate release of Edward from your custody failure to which, you may be liable for contempt under Article 53(1) of the Constitution,” read the statement.

The Commission’s remarks follow claims by Uganda's military chief that he had abducted the bodyguard of main opposition leader Bobi Wine and was torturing him "in his basement", days after his party said he went missing.

General Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who is head of the army but also son and heir-apparent of the long-ruling President Yoweri Museveni, posted on X late Thursday, April 1 that Wine's bodyguard, Eddie Mutwe, had been captured "like a grasshopper".

"He is in my basement... You are next," Kainerugaba, known for his notorious posts on X, responded to Wine after he posted about Mutwe's "abduction".

Wine, a former singer whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi, has become the leading opponent to Museveni, who has ruled Uganda since 1986.

"The abduction of Eddie Mutwe and many others by the military is a reminder to the world as to how law and order has broken down in Uganda," Wine told AFP on Friday.

"For Muhoozi to confirm the abduction and illegal detention of Eddie Mutwe and sharing his photos half naked signals to the level of impunity the rogue regime has reached," he added.

Kainerugaba also alluded to Mutwe being tortured, saying he had beaten him, shaved his head and "I still have to castrate him".

"If they keep on provoking us, we shall discipline them even more," he said.

A police spokesman told AFP he had not been briefed on Mutwe's case.

Earlier this year, the military chief threatened to behead Wine and they have sparred repeatedly online.

Kainerugaba is notorious for his unfiltered posts on X that have occasionally drawn Uganda into diplomatic spats.

In 2022, Museveni was forced to apologise for posts that appeared to threaten an invasion of Kenya.